In the Irish Courts
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834701100407 |
| Published date | 01 October 1947 |
| Date | 01 October 1947 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Irish Courts
SUPREME
COURT
OF
EIRE
APPEAL
FROM
THE
QUASHING
OF A
CONVICTION
The
People v.
Kennedy
INEngland,
the
prosecutor, as well as
the
convicted person,
may
obtain
acertificate from
the
Attorney-General
for an appeal from a decision of
the
Court of Criminal
Appeal to
the
House of
Lords:
see s. 1 (6) of
the
Criminal
Appeal Act, 1907,
and
s. 16 (2) of
the
Criminal
Justice
Act,
1925.
In
Ireland,
it
is
enacted
by
s. 29 of
the
Courts of
Justice
Act, 1924,
that
the
decision of
the
Court of Criminal
Appeal shall be final, unless
that
Court or
the
Attorney-
General shall issue a certificate, in which case
an
appeal
wi11lie to
the
Supreme Court.
In
The People v.
Kennedy
(81
Ir.
L.
T.R.
73),
the
Supreme Court decided
that
this
provision does
not
permit
the
Attorney-General, on being
refused acertificate
by
the
Court,
to
issue a certificate
to
himself, in order
to
enable
him
to appeal from adecision
quashing aconviction
and
ordering
an
acquittal
to
be
entered.
It
may
be
noted
at
the
outset
that,
in
the
statu-
tory
provisions in
the
two jurisdictions respectively,
there
is a difference of emphasis arising
out
of
the
order in which
their
respective rilles are
stated,
in
that
the
English
statute
enacts
that
either side
may
obtain
acertificate of appeal,
but
subject
thereto
the
lower
court's
decision is final,
while
the
Irish
Act provides
that
the
lower
court's
decision
is final, unless acertificate is obtained.
But
the
decision
in
Kennedy's
case (supra) is perhaps of more general signifi-
cance when viewed as an example of
the
leaning of
the
courts
against appeals, in general,
and
against appeals
against
acquittal
in particular.
The
terms
of
the
Irish
Act were held
by
M. Maguire
J.
(who dissented) to be wide
and
clear enough
to
permit
the
Attorney-General to
grant
himself acertificate of appeal
from
the
reversal of a conviction,
and
(of
the
majority) only
410
To continue reading
Request your trial